Biden to finally visit Ohio community affected by derailment
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will visit the eastern Ohio community that was devastated by a fiery train derailment almost one year ago, accepting an invitation from the East Palestine mayor to see firsthand how the cleanup of spilled toxic chemicals and the recovery are coming along.
Mayor Trent Conaway, who said he is a conservative who does not support Biden, confirmed Wednesday in a telephone interview that he extended the invitation to the Democratic president. Conaway said he invited Biden because he thinks the visit would be good for his community.
“I’m as red as they come. I’m as conservative as they come. Sometimes I have to do what’s best for the people so, yes, that’s why I invited him,” Conaway said to The Associated Press.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-pierre said earlier Wednesday that Biden would visit in February after he was invited by Conaway. A date for the visit was not announced.
The Feb. 3, 2023, derailment forced thousands of people from their homes near the Ohio-pennsylvania border. Area residents still have lingering fears about potential health effects from the toxic chemicals that spilled in the crash and from the vinyl chloride that was released a few days after the crash to keep five tank cars from exploding.
The absence of a visit by Biden, who is campaigning for reelection in November, had become a subject of persistent questioning at the White House, as well as among residents in East Palestine. Some residents have said they felt forgotten as time marched and as they watched Biden fly to the scenes of other disasters, such as the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui and hurricanes in Florida.
East Palestine resident Joe
Bethuy, a 36-year-old steelworker and a Republican, said he was disappointed in the Biden administration’s handling of the derailment and the president’s delay in visiting, adding that all he had to do “was show up just for an hour or something.”
Bethuy and friend Jeremy Smith, who moved to East Palestine after the derailment, spoke to an Associated Press reporter inside Sprinklz on Top, a downtown diner.
“I don’t know what the point is really,” Smith said of Biden’s visit. “It’s kind of a year late.”